Philip Maddocks: As health care bills emerge, legislators’ resolve at looking out for themselves will be tested

Friday

Oct 23, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 23, 2009 at 11:14 PM

House and Senate leaders at the moment are working independently to merge sweeping health care bills — produced by two committees in the Senate and three in the House — into single bills in a process that many lawmakers say will test legislators’ resolve for looking out for themselves.

Philip Maddocks

House and Senate leaders at the moment are working independently to merge sweeping health care bills — produced by two committees in the Senate and three in the House — into single bills in a process that many lawmakers say will test legislators’ resolve for looking out for themselves.

"It is not going to be painless to do this," said one senator. "But if all of us keep in mind what the alternative is, I think you will see movement toward consensus in both chambers."

"We have to put aside partisan differences, quit worrying about the voters, and do what’s best for the 435 representatives and 100 senators," added another longtime floor leader in the House.

While they may have different styles, different sets of talking points, different health care reform proposals to assemble behind, both Democrats and Republicans have identical goals: passage this year of a major health care overhaul that will be in the best interest of every one of their political and financial interests.

Achieving that end and enacting a top priority of President Obama will present perhaps the stiffest test yet of the egocentric skills of the nation’s 535 lawmakers. How they perform could influence not only their own political fate but that of future generations of self-aggrandizing senators and representatives.

"No one expects this will be easy," said one lawmaker. "When you get right down to it, there are a lot of things on the insurance, hospital, medical device, pharmaceutical fronts that are in our own political and financial interest, and trying to cram all those interests into one bill is going to be a major undertaking. But I will tell the American people that we will not rest until we get it done, and get it done right, so it doesn’t cost us one dime. We at least owe ourselves that much."

One House leader, who has been meeting regularly with fellow Democrats to discuss health care, said she is now focused on producing the strongest possible legislation in the interest of House members that can pass the House to provide her side of the Capitol with as much leverage as possible in the future.

"I’m not into dealing with the politics of the Senate," she said. "They do their policy and their politics. We meet them at the conference table, and that’s where we will deal with what’s in the best interest of everyone at that table."

A Senate leader, likewise, said he was focused on crafting legislation that could win over the hearts and minds of senators who are simply trying to look out for themselves.

"If we meet that threshold – and I am confident we will – then we should have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster," he said.

The challenge for House leaders is to write a bill with sufficient changes to the health care system without jeopardizing the political self interests of those who actually vote on the measure.

"It’s tough," said one representative. "But we’re great negotiators. We know at some point in time, we have to get to 218. And I’m confident that with a little compromise to principle and a bit of negotiating with our souls, we will get there. "

As the battle to shape health care reform into something palpable for lawmakers enters the next stage, some notoriously dependent colleagues are simplifying the Senate effort by stepping up their push for some form of "political option" to be included in the Senate version of the bill — a potential dealmaker for a few other senators who are still trying to understand what it is.

"There are 52 solid senators for the political option," said one lawmaker. "Only a handful have failed to grasp it yet. Should the 52 have to wait for that handful? Or should the handful go along with the vast majority?"

Senate and House leaders say Mr. Obama must weigh in at some point and put his heft behind the eventual legislation that is being crafted in their interest, a move the leaders hope will eliminate any last doubts among both those lawmakers who fear the emerging plan does not go far enough to help them and others who worry about political costs and other potential complications to their re-election campaigns.

But at the moment, it is the legislators who are on the spot in coming up with the best plan to satisfy them.

In the words of one senior lawmaker, "It requires the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Machiavelli."